Not that he hadn’t previously considered it – but that he had announced it to the world on Monday evening.

“I’m sitting down surfing the net, and I come across Dana White’s video blog,” Soszynski (26-12-1 MMA, 6-3 UFC) told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I pop it on because I’m always a fan of those things, and next thing you know, there I am.”

It would make sense that the Canadian light heavyweight appears on the UFC president’s blog since he fought on the UFC’s most recent pay-per-view card, UFC 140. The webisodes take a behind-the-scenes look at these events and everyone around them, and as of late, they frequently feature a fighter’s raw moments immediately following a fight as a doctor checks him out. Victorious or not, viewers are often privy to intimate confessions and revelations they might never hear in public.

Such as a fighter who calls it quits, as Soszynski does in the bowels of Toronto’s Air Canada Centre after a knockout loss to Igor Pokrajac.

Or did he?

“The truth is, I don’t remember,” Soszynski said. “The last thing I remember before the knockout was going into the cage, setting up across from Igor, and then shaking hands. The next thing I remember is I’m woken up in the back, fully dressed, and (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva came up to me, sort of gave me a hug and told me to keep my head up.”

Looking at the video, you could easily be fooled into thinking Soszynski is fine as can be, no worse than what others have experienced after a really bad day in the octagon. Backstage, he knows he’s in Toronto. But he can’t remember the date (Dec. 10). He doesn’t have any vision problems, but he shakes his head side to side and says he feels “off.” He laments that he wanted to end his career on a high note. He’s not off enough, though, to miss asking Pokrajac for half of the “Knockout of the Night” bonus that he expected the Croatian to win.

The truth is, in those moments, the lights were on, but nobody was home. After the alleged hug from Silva, he remembers putting his hands on his head and thinking about how his son and wife were in the arena to see him get knocked out. He remembers asking training partner Mark Munoz to tell him what happened so many times that Munoz cursed him.

Soszynski is not the first to lose time as the result of a loss of consciousness, but it’s the first time he’s completely gone out in a fight, and the video exposed how raw and bizarre the experience was. Even now, several weeks later, there are mixed emotions.

“I started laughing at it,” he said. “It’s rough. But I had wondered for the last two weeks if Igor came up to me and said anything. And we did talk, so that was pretty cool.”

Regardless of whether he remembers what he said or not, the question remains if he was serious about retirement. His 6-3 UFC record is certainly not the stuff of legend, but he’s carved out a place in the world’s biggest fight promotion in one of its toughest divisions. He’s well-liked and isn’t in imminent danger of being cut.

The topic was certainly quick to his mind, however, as he sat through that exam. His mental state would suggest he was speaking without a filter, and thus was speaking the truth, as if he’d made a Freudian slip in casual conversation. Maybe that’s the case, but Soszynski said the truth is that he’s wrestled with the decision to continue fighting long before his recent misfortune.

“The knockout has nothing to do with anything,” he said. “I’ve been dealing with a lot of injuries. Ever since UFC 110 in Austrailia with that crazy war with Stephan Bonnar, my body has not been the same. Not even close. I don’t think I’ve ever fought close to 70 percent since that first fight with Bonnar. The retirement thing has been on my mind for a little while, only because I can’t train the way I want to train because of all these injuries.

“I have to go see my doctor again this week. I have to see if I need any more surgeries, and it’s just been really rough, mentally. I’ve trained 15 weeks for my camps, and I’ve pushed my body to the limit, but there’s no security. It’s myself, too. I started in the sport really late. I don’t have those kind of skills that the top fighters do where I can make it in the top-five, top-10, and start making $50,000, $60,000 and $70,000 per fight. I’m in the lower echelon when it comes to the money the UFC gives out to the fighters, and it’s tough to survive with that kind of money. I have to supplement my income. I have to work other jobs. So moving on from MMA is something that’s been on my mind for the last little bit.”

Just prior to his a seventh knee surgery this past summer, Soszynski booked a role as Mickey Rourke’s stunt double in the recent action flick “The Immortals,” and he recently received an offer to become a head trainer at a new UFC gym in Torrance, Calif., that’s scheduled to open in 2012.

“I don’t want to go out the way I did,” Soszynski said. “I definitely want to fight one more time. But it’s not up to me; it’s up to my body. If my body lets me, I’ll be in that octagon once again, smiling across the octagon from my opponent, shaking hands and going to war. But until I talk to my doctor and get checked out, I won’t know what’s going on.”

Soszynski anticipates that he’ll need an additional two surgeries following his most recent training camp and fight. He’s keeping an open mind, of course, but he’s also being realistic.

“I have to weigh all the options and see what the right option is for me,” he said. “I’ve always said that I am a better coach than a fighter, and if this opportunity comes my way with the UFC gym in Torrance, it could be a great opportunity for me to pass on the knowledge that I have to some of my new students.”

He’ll know soon what the plan is. At that point, he’ll make a formal announcement, and it will be a heck of a lot more clear-headed than the one made on Monday.

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